Researchers Urge Caution of Immunotherapy in Older Patients with Melanoma
Source: Cure Today, July 2024
Citing toxicities and lack of efficacy, some are calling for caution when treating older patients with melanoma with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
For patients with melanoma aged 75 and older, adjuvant (postsurgical), treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors should be used with precaution, researchers have stated, citing relatively less efficacy and higher risk of toxicity when compared with younger patients. However, one expert who spoke with CURE® disputed these findings.
A team of German researchers whose findings were published in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy, compared 339 patients younger than 75 with 117 patients who were 75 and older, retrospectively analyzing immune-related side effects and outcomes for patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors Keytruda (pembrolizumab) or Opdivo (nivolumab) between Jan. 1, 2018 and Dec. 20, 2022.